Reading
by nuttymeggie
Summary: Zoro needs a writing sensei, and Sanji offers his assistance. ZoSan, oneshot.


A/n: This is before Robin came unto their ship, so roughly in between Drum Island and Arabasta.

"What?" Zoro asks the little doctor of their ship, during their check-ups (captain-ordered) with Chopper.

"Can you read? It's important for my files," Chopper explains, looking at his clipboard, alarmingly adorable in the little reindeer's hooves.

"Um..." Zoro says.

"Wait, here, read this paragraph from this book," Chopper says, passing him a book, pointing to the paragraph in question. Zoro stares at the book, trying to quickly give meaning to the jumbled symbols, seemingly in no particular order on the page. "Zoro?"

"Um..." Zoro says again. "I can't..."

"You can't read?" Chopper asks, surprised. It was generally common for most of the world to know how to read. Zoro shakes his head. "This is a problem, it wouldn't do for the greatest swordsman in the world to be illiterate, can it?" He shrugs.

"I was doing fine without reading," Zoro says carelessly.

"Do you know how to spell your name?" Chopper asks. Zoro thinks about it, staring into space in the little medical room.

"Z-O-R-O," he recites. "I don't know my family name, just take the spelling on the bounty poster."

"Did you sound that out?" Chopper asks, excited. Zoro shrugs.

"It just seems like the letters to say," he says. Chopper wilts. "I know those ones."

"Well, in every other physical aspect you've excelled, I'll just have to find you a tutor to teach you how to read, so, you can go," Chopper says, turning back to his clipboard, scribbling some notes.

"Wait, I have to be taught?" Zoro asks.

"Yes, of course, it's something one must know to function in basic life," Chopper says. "Nami, or Sanji, maybe...Usopp and Luffy seem to irresponsible to know how to properly teach, and I've been working on a medicine and can't..."

"Why?" Zoro complains. "I don't care. I've been doing fine without reading or writing!"

"Nope! I'll get Luffy to use his Captain powers to make you learn!" Chopper says. "You must learn to read!"

Zoro sighs. He knew he wouldn't win in this conversation. "Fine, just don't expect me to be good at it, alright?" Chopper nods.

"That's all I can ask," he says.

"Anything else we need to discuss?" Nami asks in their weekly Monday meetings. Chopper raises his hoof. "Yes, Chopper?"

"Zoro needs a tutor," Chopper says. Zoro sighs. _This garbage again..._ he thinks.

"Tutor? For what?" Nami asks.

"He can't read," Chopper says. Nami raises her eyebrows.

"Not that I expected much more, but...I suppose I could teach him..." Nami says.

"I'll do it," Sanji says, putting his feet on the table. "I'll teach the marimo."

"Are you sure?" Nami asks. "I mean, it's certainly not your responsibility, but I'm not going to argue."

"Hey! Don't I get a say in who my teacher is?!" Zoro says. They ignore him.

"No, it's no problem. I'll teach him in between meals and such, but I would be most gracious if you would give me some writing supplies...?" Sanji says.

"Of course, of course, it'll go on Zoro's tab," Nami says with a smirk.

"OI! I NEVER WANTED TO TAKE THESE SHITTY LESSONS!" Zoro complains loudly.

"Not your choice. I'll go get those supplies, you can start now!" Nami smiles. "Meeting adjourned!" They clear out, leaving a calm Sanji and a seething Zoro at the table.

"Don't expect me to be a good student, dart-brow," Zoro says sullenly. Nami returns with the supplies, putting two pens, a well of ink and two notebooks on the table before quietly leaving.

"Alright, write your name," Sanji says. Zoro looks at him blankly. He sighs. "Do you know the alphabet?" Zoro cocks an eyebrow. "Alright," he says, grabbing a pen, dipping it in the well of ink, hastily scrawling Sanji on the blue notebook, Marimo on the green. He passes the green one to him, and they both open them. "Hold the pen like this, and dip it in the ink..." Zoro does so, though clumsily.

"I can write my name," Zoro says. He carefully leans over his notebook and starts to write Z-O-R-O in block letters. Sanji looks at it.

"Not bad," Sanji says, lighting up. "Now, you'll need to know this," he says carefully, writing the alphabet in his notebook. He finishes and turns it towards Zoro. "Copy this exactly on the first page." He does so. "Now..."

FOUR DAYS LATER:

"Can you try writing your name now?" Sanji asks, getting the notebooks out again after breakfast. Zoro was a quick learner, and he was picking up on all the basics, spelling, writing, even reading simple sentences with little difficulty. Luffy even dropped in on their lesson once, although he lacked the attention and focus of Zoro.

Zoro obediently opens his notebook to a fresh page, writing "Roronoa Zoro" onto the top of the page. After the first couple lessons, Sanji realized that he was both a natural leftie (although he was ambidextrous) and that Zoro's normal handwriting was pretty girly once he got a hang of writing words. Sanji nods in approval, looking at his work on the page. Zoro thinks, closing the notebook to the front cover. He frowns, trying to decipher the word on the front of his notebook.

"HEY!" Zoro shouts in understanding, quickly crossing out the word "Marimo" on the front cover, writing "Zoro" with great care underneath Sanji's words.

"You figured it out," Sanji says, lighting up. "I'm actually pretty proud, marimo." Zoro growls but Sanji laughs. "Let's try reading more." Sanji opens his own notebook. "You, I don't know...write something, too. We'll read each others works." Sanji starts writing out how to make bread, while Zoro hunches over his paper, writing words with the greatest of care. Sanji finished, but Zoro continued to write, scratching things out and writing, more words than Sanji thought he actually knew.

Sanji waits a minute or so, but when Zoro shows no sign of stopping, he writes how souffle rises, and why fruit is classified as fruit, and why marimos are classified as marimos. Finally Zoro looks up, and Sanji finishes the last part of his words before handing his notebook to Zoro. He was eager to take Zoro's he had become quite curious about what took so long for Zoro to finish.

"You read mine first. Just pick a paragraph..." Zoro looks at him, confused.

"See the indents? You read from there, and stop when another indent starts," Sanji says. Zoro nods, reading the first one, though stumbling over words only chefs would know, like yeast and leaven. Zoro finishes with a smile, and Sanji picks up Zoro's notebook. He watches Zoro watch him open it, and Sanji starts to quietly read.

"There's something inside of me, but I'm not sure what.

There's something inside and I can't leave this rut

of pretty boys and sexy girls but none of them are you

so I can't help but feel that these feelings are true.

"You don't know the why and I don't know the how

but somehow these feelings have come here and now.

I want to hold you and take you and feel you and love you

but I know that these feelings are meant for only choice few.

"And now as I sit and I write in my rut

I can't help but figure out the how and what.

It was you that had cared and you that had yelled.

Even as I, the arrogant, was broken and was felled.

"It was you that had loved me and that feeling will stay

even if you hate me, and wish to leave for far aways

of lands where I can't roam and places I won't see

You have to know, you must know, together we must be.

"So here as I write this, here as I sit

there's nothing to do, only tear my heart out bit by bit.

But you'll put it back together, together we'll always be.

But you know, yeah, you know, that I love you Sanji."

Sanji stops reading. He wasn't sure how he kept reading through the poem, but he managed, and kept staring at the words, curling and flowing even though it was simple block script.

"Sanji?" Zoro whispers. "That was the wrong page."

"What?!" Sanji exclaims, taking him out of his revelry. "They wrong page?!" Zoro nods. He flips his notebook to the next page, where it outlines all the reasons why it was unlikely that his eyebrow curled naturally like that, and what kind of horrible facial scars he must be hiding underneath his bangs. Sanji gets a tic as he silently reads the page.

"So..." Zoro trails off, horrified to feel a blush coming to his face.

"Did you write both of these?" Sanji asks. Zoro definitely feels the blush, and nods. "So which one is true?"

"Can't both be true?" Zoro asks. "Teasing and loving you?" Yup, he decided. Definitely never living this one down.

Sanji looks at him for a second, then makes the snap decision that he must have gone mad. Yup, that must be what have happened.

"This all must be some kind of crazy dream," he says. "Yes, that must be it. Because you can't love me, it's the other way around..." He looks away, almost chewing on his cigarette. "I'm the one who loves you."

Zoro looks at him, surprised that he thinks it's a dream, even more surprised when Sanji admits that he's in love with him, too.

"Oi, ero-cook, if this won't convince you it's reality, then nothing will," Zoro says, getting up to straddle Sanji in his seat, both effectively trapping him and making a comfortable seat for Zoro. He leans down as Sanji leans up to kiss him, and they sit like that for a full five minutes, kissing each other.

"Not a dream?" Sanji asks. Zoro shakes his head.

"Not a dream."


End file.
